By Andrew Irumba
Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Henry Tumukunde, who is among the 2021 presidential aspirants, has Tuesday been denied bail again by the Hight Court on grounds that his bail application would better be considered after the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown,but also needed more time to present sureties that are his rank or above, whom he had not yet presented, according to suggested names.
High Court presiding judge Wilson Kwesigwa, who heard the bail application via video conferencing at Buganda Road Court, denied Lt. Gen Henry Tumukunde Bail on grounds that his sureties aren’t substantial enough to compel him to stand trial.
Tumukunde told court that “Your Worship I’m being held incommunicado. I cannot access my lawyers. I have no access to my doctors, wife or family members. Your Worship you know very well that I cannot fully function without access to my people. At least I need access to my lawyers such that I can instruct them on what to do.”
However, in reply, the Judge assured Gen. Tumukunde that there is nothing they can do because of the current COVID-19 lockdown. “Due to the current COVID-19 lockdown there is nothing we can do currently. Until we receive other directives, you shall have to bear with the current situation,” the Judge said.
The Judge added that ” Because of that, your matter has been adjourned until May 6th, 2020 when it will come up for mention at the City Hall Court, Kampala.
Meanwhile, court also asked Tumukunde to present sureties who are army officers at the rank of General or above his rank and must come with letters of recommendation from the army leadership the next his case comes up for mention.
Gen Tumukunde is on remand at Luzira prison on charges of treason and unlawful possession of guns and ammunition. Under the charge of treason, prosecution alleges that while appearing on NBS TV during the morning Breeze show on March 5 this year, Gen Henry Tumukunde said:
“If I was Rwandan, I would support those who want to cause change in Uganda. According to prosecution, the aforementioned utterances were aimed at instigating Rwanda to attack Uganda to cause unlawful change of regime.”
It is further alleged that later, he was found in unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, the charges Gen Tumukunde has denied. Last month, Gen Tumukunde, wrote to the Electoral Commission, seeking permission to consult the people in furtherance of his presidential bid in which he wants to oust his Luweero bush war comrade, President Museveni in the 2021 General Election.
Since the lockdown, courts have closed hearings of cases and only handle special cases, where suspects appear in court via video-conferencing as they remain in the confines of their prison cells. Gen Tumukunde applied for bail about two weeks ago seeking release to attend trial while coming from home. He pledged not to interfere with investigations and said he is a presidential candidate, who needs to traverse the country to consult the electorate on his presidential bid.
He said he has a fixed place of abode on Plot 34 in Upper Kololo Terrance in Kampala and is therefore unlikely to jump bail. But the state attorney objected to his bail request, saying the charges Gen Tumukunde is facing are critical to national security as they involve the diplomatic relations between Uganda and Rwanda.
He argued that the investigations are still in infancy yet the case will require interviewing witnesses, visiting scenes and collecting physical evidence across the entire country. The state attorney argued that releasing the general at this stage of the investigations, given his influential nature, would be detrimental to the progress of the investigations.
